280" Concourse; Diary of a layman

[floyd111]

I finally snapped up a few goodies this week, after almost 10 days of nothingness.
Hard-core dayly searches really get old if nothing pops up.
Today made up for it!

[floyd111]

Guess the posting issues have been resolved? Try again..

These were a lucky shot in Autralia. Headlight protectors and a counter from a 280SEL with RPM!
Very nice seller, who almost finished his own Pebble Beach W116
I told him to join the org but he worries about trolls and fashionista, haha

[floyd111]

It did not come cheap, but I am happy to own a full set of original paperwork belonging to the correct radio!

And the tool seems regular, but it is a brand new NOS MB Matador, not a Hazet etc. Rare as can be.

[floyd111]

Finally, a few lucky auction wins!
The MB drier for 30 bucks, and 2 skirts for 37 each, NOS MB

[floyd111]

Another Becker booklet and a roof-tool for re-galvanizing, cheap as could be, bought together for 17 bucks

[floyd111]

A 40 bucks NOS part at half the MB price, and a replacement lens for a Bosch lamp set from Egypt, that got broken during transport.
Ebay seller Flamai from Egypt was a great gentleman about it, and had a new one sent!

[s class]

That lens is for LHD traffic. 

[ronw123w124]

That lens is for LHD traffic.

Perfect for him since Taiwan is LHD traffic

[floyd111]

  You had me worried there for a bit!

[floyd111]

I finally found my Minimax fire extinguisher.
Since it is still under pressure, it can not be airlifted.. So, it needs to be send ground transport from Germany to Bulgaria, where a friend of ours ships cars in containers to Taiwan with ocean freight.
You gotta be mad to go that far, but in the end, it costs less then a regular UPS-direct.
It just takes 2 months longer to arrive, haha

Also, finally got new clutches for my 2 Yorks
They are 64-73 FORD MUSTANG 6 1/4", and should be a striaght fit, after removing the black coating for originality

[floyd111]

It has been a while since my last confession.
It has been a bumpy few weeks.
Ed, the revered mechanic that we imported from New Orleans turned out to be a total surprise.
When he left, he had never suffered a complaint, and had never complained himself.
He left without saying goodbye, with a free home-ticket in his pocket.
He left with his free apartment in a total mess, never having cleaned in 3 months. He left with my W116 engine in 100 pieces on a table. He left with my stock list (if ever he actually made one), and he left with all my dis-installation pictures.
He left with 2 190E's in pieces, with an engine that ran before he took it out, and didn't run when he put it back in.
Needless to say I caught most of the flack that the shop owner caught from his wife, who foots half the bills and ended up disinfecting Ed's apartment.
Losses on my side? Thousands.. Losses for the shopkeeper? More thousands.
Yes, Ed, with all his niceties and promises turned out to be a total dick. He must have been overwhelmed by the internal complexities of a 1970's carburetor engine and ran for his life.
Could not even ask him a question the day after he left, for he blocked all his Skype access and doesn't answer emails.
Ed Osborn from New Orleans? We thank you not.
Ah well..next chapter.

I decided to not sit still, and continue my searches for replacement mechanics. I got lucky pretty fast. A nice middle-aged London chap, living in Malaysia contacted me and I flew him in. The very day before his arrival, a young German chap came to my office for an interview and I decided to hire him as well, seeing he was already in Taiwan!
The next day I drove both of them to the workshop, where a rather flabbergasted and happy shop owner was awaiting us.
After fruitlessly advertising and searching for almost a year, I found 2 guys in 24 hours. Amazing!
Brief, they have been at the shop for a week now, and are really digging in.
I have a good feeling about them sticking around long term.
Maybe it's a German thing.. The UK chap is half German, the German boy is German, and I am half German. That's quite a bit of automotive OCD in one group, wouldn't you think?

On the shopping front, I am now getting to the phase of really having to shell out cash for parts. Scary. Best done blindly.
After hunting for globally scattered NLA and NOS items for more than a year, I now have a big pallet of NOS/NLA coming in from Australia and around January, 2 pallets of NOS/NLA coming out of Germany. (My apologies to all the W116 owners in Germany and Austria)
It looks like I can order/ship the bulk of regular, new MB parts in one go from Germany as well, which would present me with a much welcomed shipping advantage.
Looks like it will be almost 400 new/regular part numbers, all twice for 2 cars.
We will not be flying on holidays anytime soon, that much is sure.

[floyd111]

Well, lots of movement these days. The 2 mechanics that I kidnapped from the UK and Germany are doing very well, and there may be a new addition, a French classic specialist, big W116 fan that may join our ranks here in April.
A true madman, and a very costly friend to have. Mad skills finding rare options, often new in the box.

Now in the process of paying for 2 complete phone systems, a Tekade BSA31 and a Telefunken, with manual
Also found out that the Tekade is listed as the oldest commercial mobile phone system in the world.
There is a matching center console ashtray, new in the box, and an external AM selector, that fits in a special MB-supplied glove box.
Word is those glove boxes are also on their way.
Still need a second ashtray, somewhere this year. Hopefully one will pop up.

Scored a hydraulic jack, new in the box, from germany, and tomorrow I need to send money for my Frenzel fridge

Also decided to buy a 280SEL locally, and cancel my plans to do a pebble beach 280S. The SEL is likely to sell a lot better, and will allow the retractable rear seat to be built in, an item not yet found.

Scary days, with cash flying faster then I would want to, but these are the days where biting the bullet becomes most apparent.
Can't stop now, need to go the extra mile, or I am gonna end up running the most exclusive W116-option eBay shop in the world.

I did say no to the orthopedic chairs I was offered, since this is an option that's not even visible.
But, the thought of having ABS installed is back on the table. After much research it seems very possible to do, and with a simple mod, the issue of oil lines running along the hot exhaust pipes can be solved.
Shame I let the ABS unit I was offered slip by. Will need to find another.
is it true that the early W126 uses the identical system?

[floyd111]

some of the goodies from the last month:

2 MB wallets from the 70's popped up in 2 countries.. new in the box.
They will later contain German bank notes, edition 1963-1980 (still hunting)
They will also contain brand new German coins, edition 1976 and edition 1979

[floyd111]

more dressing for the car:
Jahr im Bild, edition 76 and 79
But also Shell Reiseatlas edition 76 and 79

[floyd111]

The boot:

Where one car received the MB-sold Hella safety lamp from 1979, the other car has this Daimon lamp, NOS

The NOS hydraulic jack was a purchase I will not make a second time(!) Not while there's hunger in the world. My own car will simply contain the refurbished Bilstein.

The toolkits I gathered are nearly complete, Matador wrenches only, all new or NOS. The little lamp box is still missing, as is the illusive Car Care Kit.

The Frenzel fridge.. It will take some TLC and maybe a spare part or so, but it is not like there's a choice in these matter. At least it is complete with cables and manual. There will be no 2nd one in my own car

The suitcase set
The original W116 suitcases are harder to find than Jimmy Hoffa, and they seem rather ugly. Skai, really?
So, I will dress these cars with era-correct Samsonites, Silhouette 1 series in White for the 1976, and Silhouette II Tan in the 79 car
The first 2 briefcases have arrived, and 3 white Silhouettes are in the mail.
The Tan Omega briefcase was the first, and immediately wrong. It was a medium brown. A lovely specimen, but not in Tan (matching the Bambus car interior) The sales photo was overly lit. Good thing I got it really cheap.
The Tan series is the hardest, with too many different shades going around.